Once Upon a Savage Earth
by akikos-wok
Summary: The Sailor Soldiers’ mission to the fledgling planet Earth had gone terribly wrong. It isn’t long before they find themselves captives of the missing prince’s most trusted advisors, the sons of Earth’s lesser kings, in a world full of primitive peril.
1. crash

**Once Upon a Savage Earth**

by: akikos-wok

DISCLAIMER:

Almost all of the lovely characters featured in this story, and the general premise for it, are copyright of the brilliant Naoko Takeuchi. I simply borrow them for the amusement and fulfillment of my own imagination.

**chapter one- crash**

It was all her fault. She was certain of it. How couldn't it have been? After all, she was the one piloting the shuttle that now lay in wreckage on the soil of who knows where. She suspected, no hoped, _prayed_ with every fiber of her being that it was Earth, but she did not know for sure. Not while she lay with her head, skin broken at the forehead, bleeding onto the cracked, defunct control panel beside the ship's helm. All she was sure of was her splitting headache and the fact that she may have accidentally caused the deaths of her three dearest friends and comrades. Fearing the worst she finally shifted to stand. She pushed away a mass of blood-soaked black bangs and clapped a hand to her forehead to temporarily stifle the bleeding. She gripped the edge of the control board with her free hand and hoisted her body up, shifting the weight in her feet awkwardly against the onset of vertigo. With not a little effort, she managed to straighten her legs and keep from falling. She opened her eyes cautiously, as much afraid of them being dazzled into temporary blindness by the light as she was of what they might see.

Her violet eyes widened in shock at the sight of Ami, still securely strapped into her seat on the bridge, head thrown back, limbs hanging limply. On sheer impulse she rushed towards her and almost instantly found herself face to face with the other girl's blue leather boots. A wave of nausea prompted her to role onto her side lest she should vomit and choke to death. Thankfully it passed, but the immense amount of pain in her body told her that her current range of motion was limited to rolling from her side onto her stomach. She wasn't even sure she could make it onto her back again.

"Rei! My gracious are you alright?" She recognized the voice as that of the girl she had so impetuously rushed to discern the condition of. She was alive, and the least, capable of speech. Very capable, from the unmistakably concerned sound of it.

Rei tried to roll in the other direction to look at her but to no avail. She opened her mouth to speak and found that barely croaking out "No" was much more difficult than she would have anticipated.

Ami came into view crouching down beside her. She grabbed Rei under the arms and in an unexpected feat of strength, the most petite of the Soldiers managed to hoist her comrade up into the seat she herself had formerly occupied. Her already pale face seemed to turn a shade paler with horror and Rei guessed she must look miserable with half-dry blood caking her face and an enormous gash in the middle of her forehead. It was probably bruising pretty badly too and she thought she might have acquired some more bruises from her recent face-plant.

"By the Goddess," Amy began, tentatively reaching out her hand and smoothing some of Rei's hair away from her face, "you're…there's blood everywhere!" She gasped then flushed and shook her head. "I-I'm sorry," she stammered. "I shouldn't have said that."

"It's alright," Rei assured her. _I'm sure I'm a hideous sight. No use trying to hide it. _But she did admit it may have made her feel more optimistic about their dismal situation if Ami had exercised her usual tact is assessing Rei's injuries.

"We've got to get you to sick bay," Ami insisted then stopped short. "Damn. We can't. This isn't a cruiser…just a personal shuttle…we must have first aid supplies somewhere…"

"Ami calm down-"

"Oh why don't I have healing powers?" Ami asked arbitrarily. She was on her feet and looked as though she was desperately fighting an impulse to pace madly. "Rei," she said finally. "I'm going to find our first aid supplies and tend to your wounds to the best of my ability. Then I'll see if I can get our computer systems back online and contact Queen Serenity. If we can just get back to the Moon she'll be able to heal you-"

"Thank you Ami," Rei interrupted. "But please, find Mako and Minako, make sure they're alright. Don't worry about me. After all it's my fault we got into this mess."

"Don't say that!" Ami cried. She kneeled down before her comrade once more. "Rei I was the one who miscalculated." She turned her head down ashamed. "I was certain we'd have no trouble entering the Earth's atmosphere. No one's ever encountered any problems before, so I over-looked the possibility that atmospheric conditions might have changed since the Moon Kingdom's last Earth mission. I over-estimated the stability of a planet that's only been subject to human regulation for fifty years."

"Ami," Rei said, wishing she could reach a hand out to grasp the blue-haired girl's shoulder for comfort, "it isn't your fault. For all we know there was some kind of magnetic storm or something, and no one could have anticipated that."

Ami looked up at her. "And in that case, even our greatest pilot's skill could not have overcome it." She smiled weakly.

Rei still couldn't help but feel responsible, but she forced a smile back at Ami in agreement. Her body screamed at her to relieve the pain it was in, but finding Makoto and Minako was more important. With any luck they would have fared as well as Ami and come out of the wreck relatively unscathed. Of course they had not been seated securely on the bridge as she had. Ami stood and looked as though she might begin to fuss over Rei again, but then thought better of it. Rei was certain logic had gotten the better of the girl, as it always did, and made her realize that worrying would do them no good. She ran off in the direction of the cabin.

Sitting and waiting for Ami to return with a report on the status of their other two comrades caused Rei much more pain than the wounds that kept her bound to her seat. She was not accustomed to ever taking a back-seat role in anything, particularly not matters pertaining to her own life. Tears of frustration began to well up in the corners of her eyes. Why did she have to have fire powers that were only useful on their field of battle? Why couldn't she have been like the Moon people and possessed healing power? Then she could have healed herself, run and found Minako and Makoto, heal them to if they needed it, and together the four of them, strong and healthy, could have gone to search for some means of repairing their ship. _Or at least we could find out where we are. That would be a start._

She heard the frantic shuffling of footsteps and tried to no avail to turn her head and see who it was. Soon both Ami and Makoto stood before her, Mako looking weathered, with a small cut below her rapidly bruising left-eye, but otherwise in good shape. At least she was capable of standing and walking, briskly too, from the sound of it. Makoto fell upon her and embraced her fervently.

"Oh Rei," she cried. "Thank the Goddess you're alive."

Rei's body protested against the pressure of Mako's body. Mako must have felt it for she sat up immediately, her face stricken with horror. "Oh Rei! I'm sorry, so sorry. I was just so happy to see you living I got carried away."

"S'okay," Rei managed, body still stinging with a lingering sensation of being crushed by her comrade's embrace. She was starting to suspect that one or more of her ribs might be cracked or broken. She winced, but tried to pass it off as a smile.

Then a thought occurred to her. Makoto was here and well but Minako was nowhere to be seen. Her heart raced and she quickly forgot about her pain-stricken body as she asked, "Where's Minako? Mako was she with-"

Makoto regarded her sadly and Rei stopped speaking. _Oh no. It can't be! She's got to be alive. She's our leader…she couldn't possibly have...died._

"She unconscious," Mako said finally and Rei's pulse came to a screeching halt then resumed a more normal pace. "I tried to wake her, but it was no use. We were in the lounge outside the cabins when we started losing control. We dived under the counter of the kitchenette and braced ourselves. We were fine for a while until the turbulence got really bad. I didn't see it happen, but Minako must have hit her head on the wall or top of the counter or something. She was knocked out instantly, I tried to wake her up, and was careful not to get my head to close to the back wall. That's when one of the drawers burst open and a knife flew out. Lucky for me it was mostly just the grip that got me and not the blade. Those drawers are damn heavy though!"

"But Minako, where is she now? Is she alright?" Rei insisted.

"I laid her out on her bed. Her breathing seems regular and everything. Pulse is steady too. I can't tell if there's been any serious head trauma," Makoto replied.

"I saw her too Rei," Ami said. "She's healthy to look at. She just won't wake up. That blow to the head she took must have been pretty serious."

Rei fidgeted, wishing she could stand and go see her. Minako, Sailor Venus, was the leader of the Sailor Soldiers, the maker of all executive decisions, giver of commands, often the chief formulator of plans. And she, Sailor Mars, was second and, with Sailor Venus out of commission, surrogate chief commander. She though if she could just see her comatose comrade, focus on assessing how best to revive her and the resume their mission, she might be able to ignore the seething pain in her head and torso, and be able to effectively perform her duty. She shifted all her weight into her arms upon the chair's armrests and attempted to push herself up to standing.

Ami and Makoto were quickly beside her, each one taking an arm and lifting her to her feet. They didn't protest nor try to persuade her to stay seated. Instead Makoto said "Lean on us, we'll take you to her," and they did so. Rei managed to move her feet at least a little to aid in the process, but she was mainly dragged between the capable bodies of her two comrades.

They reached the cabin Rei shared with Minako. She lay silently on the bed, face placid, breathing gently as if she were in a very deep and pleasant sleep. In fact, were it not for the fact that she was dressed in a military issue orange uniform, she might look rather majestic with her mass of golden hair falling in fine fountains all over the pristinely white pillows. Makoto helped Rei onto her own bed while Ami felt Minako's head for a fever then attempted in vain to wake her up.

"It's no use," she said disappointedly. "She's out cold."

"Still?" Makoto more stated than asked. She looked to Rei expectantly. "Well, what do you want us to do?"

Rei lay on her side and weighed their options. They could stay here in the ship; Ami was among the most talented technicians in the whole of the Moon Kingdom. She could maybe get the computers back online, then they could contact the queen who could determine their coordinates via the central mainframe and send out a rescue party to retrieve them. But there was no telling whether or not Ami _would_ be able to get the computers working again. And if Minako was seriously injured, the time wasted trying to fix an irreparable machine might be time they didn't have to spare. Not to mention she wasn't doing so well herself.

"Ami, do you think it's safe to say that we are definitely on Earth?" Rei asked, edge of authority creeping into her voice.

"Absolutely," Ami replied with a nod. "We lost control upon entering Earth's atmosphere and unless something really abnormal sent us careening into space, the atmospheric pressure should have driven us down to the planet's surface."

"Well we'll just have to assume we are then," Rei concluded. "Given the unknown state of Minako's health, I say we have no choice but to seek medical assistance. Once she had been taken care of then we can worry about contacting Queen Serenity and returning to the Moon."

"There are many Earth settlements now. Not just the Aethilius's Golden Kingdom. I'm sure there must be some village nearby that can offer us aid, no matter how primitive," Makoto said optimistically.

Rei hoped she was right. Humans had come to Earth only fifty years before lead by her grandfather's brother, Aeolus. He had managed to penetrate the surface of the Earth not long after his arrival and therein established a small stronghold where humans would be sheltered from the Earth's dangers. He was a fiercely independent man; some thought he was trying to establish a planet free from the authority of the Moon Kingdom. His stronghold eventually grew into what was now referred to as "The Golden Kingdom" though very few non-Earthlings had seen it. Not long before his death, it was said that he had successfully established four central colonies on Earth, reigned over by his four most trusted advisers, all of whom were with an age with his son Aethilius. But these were all rumors passed on by the few people who had visited the Earth, mostly bards hungry for new material to sing about. The Earthlings kept very much to themselves, and though they most likely had managed to implement advanced computer communication technology by now, they had never used it to contact anyone outside their planet. That was why the Sailor Soldiers had been sent to the planet: to offer the resources, aid and protection of the Moon Kingdom in the effort to colonize Earth.

Rei sat up and lowered her feet to the ground. Her red leather boot-clad foot hit the ground with a hard "thump" and it took all of her energy just to remain standing, but she did it. "Ami," she said, "do you think you can manage to support me? I can walk a little if you'll help me to keep upright."

"Of course Rei," Ami said dutifully, moving to help her friend.

"Mako I'm counting on you to carry Minako," Rei said. "I'm sorry, I know it's quite the burden."

"Not at all," Makoto assured her, though Rei knew she was saying it to boost morale. She lifted Minako upright, grabbed her by the arms and lifted her onto her back. "Lucky for me Minako watches her figure!"

Rei might have laughed if she didn't think she would break a rib. If one or more of them wasn't already broken. Ami left Rei standing by the bed for a few more minutes while she gathered up whatever supplies she deemed useful; disinfectant and bandages (some of which were used to temporarily patch up Rei's head), standard rations and nutritional supplements, a water-flask, that could boil any liquid gathered in it, so as to kill any possible bacteria, and a couple of kitchen knives. She found a couple of crystal powered laser-pistols, holstered one to her own hip and armed Rei with the other. Should they encounter any danger, in her current state, Rei doubted she would be able to harness her fire.

"You both understand that if we encounter any danger you are to leave Minako with me and focus on defending us?" Rei said as they exited ship the ship.

The two other girls nodded in response. "And furthermore," Rei continued, "if it seems hopeless, you must abandon us and defend yourselves." She prayed it wouldn't come to that, but she didn't know. And it was necessary that at least some of them survive, lest the princess should be left with no guardians.

Makoto grunted her disapproval. "Rei, I really don't think-"

"That it will come to that?" she finished for her. "But no one really knows what state the Earth is in. And if the Earthlings are our enemies and have people or creatures here that might pose a threat to the Moon Kingdom, it is imperative that the princess has guardians to protect her. Preferably living ones."

Makoto gave her a melancholy half-smile. "That's exactly what Minako would say."

They had landed in the middle of forest, not dissimilar in appearance from the forests on Mars that Rei recalled from her childhood, though she thought the trees here seemed taller and more threatening. They blocked out the daylight almost completely, save for a few wayward beams that crept in through cracks between in the lush covering of leaves and painted patterns on the forest floor. The ground was uneven, covered in rocks and twigs, with weeds and other unruly plant-life springing up among them; it would have been difficult to navigate at full health, let alone in her weakened state. Rei had lived so long on the moon that the reality of the untamed world had escaped her: this was going to be no walk in the park. As she stumbled, clinging to Ami, hoping she would be steady enough for the two of them, and swatted at tiny pestering creatures buzzing around her head, Rei had serious doubts about her decision to look for help.

Yet it seemed the further they got from the wrecked ship, the less wild the forest became. Maybe she was just delirious from pain, but she thought that the trees were farther apart and there was less brush to torment her feet. She could see clearly now, as more sunlight was allowed to pour in through the trees and illuminate their path. The strange little buzzing things were gone to. As they continued they came to a point where there were hardly any trees at all, just gnarled, graying stumps and fallen trunks and branches. Makoto set Minako down against one of the tree stumps, sat on a nearby trunk and caught her breath.

"Thank goodness," she breathed. "I could hardly see my nose in front of my face a ways back there. I thought we'd be stuck in that _forever._ And what were those little buzzing things? They were wretched, I think one of them bit me too!"

Rei felt Ami tense up beneath her arm. "Ami, what's the matter?" she asked. "Don't you want to sit and rest a moment?"

"I don't think we should stay here," Ami declared, eyes surveying the area suspiciously. "Something isn't right."

Rei's body ached from exertion. She couldn't possibly keep going without rest. Her headache, which she thought may have lessened over time seemed to have suddenly gotten worse and she was feeling dizzy. Though she knew to trust Ami's judgment she asked, "What do you mean?"

"The trees…there have been fewer and fewer the further we've walked away from the ship-"

"But isn't that a good sign?" Makoto asked, cutting her off. "I mean, on Jupiter, my mother told that deforestation was a huge part of the colonization process. Sure that was hundreds of years ago, but don't you think the Earthlings would do the same?"

"Yes," Ami agreed, "but these trees have no been carefully cut down by humans. They would have disposed of the trunks, chopped them up for building material for temporary housing or something. And there would have been clean cuts at the tops of the tree stumps."

Rei's heart sank and she noticed that Ami was right. The mangled tops of the tree stumps suggested that they had had their trunks ripped violently from them. And they were not small trees. _What could have done such a thing?_ she wondered in horror. She prayed that, whatever it was, it was far, far away. They had been trained for combat and in theory were cunning, powerful solider, worthy of being called personal guardians to the princess. But the reality of the matter was, they had no combat experience; all the galaxy was at peace and had been ever since their births a mere seventeen years ago. She had never dreamed their first battle might be against some sort of monster capable of demolishing fully-grown trees.

The she head a sound, gently booming, like boulders hitting soft soil at regular intervals, getting closer, closer, louder, sharper. Ami's grip on her tightened and Makoto rushed to gather Minako up onto her back again.

"Run!" Makoto whispered sharply, fixing Rei with a petrified stare.

Rei shook her head fiercely. "No time. You'll never make it with Minako and me slowing you down. Best to hide the two of us and run to find help."

"We're _not_ leaving you!" Ami insisted. "If we run off, we may never be able to find our way back here! We'll all hide together, it's the only way."

But it was too late for that. The thundering footsteps that had been steadily approaching every since they first came into earshot were now more than a disembodied sound. Charging towards them was hulking, monstrous beast, covered with scales, dull and green…or brown? Rei couldn't tell. It ran on all fours, its back hunched to accommodate its severely shorter front legs, its thick, muscled hind legs doing most of the work in propelling it forward. The curved back was adorned with a stiff fin-like structure that ran from the base of the next to where Rei guessed might have been the end of a tail, though she could not see it. It was enormous, maybe twenty-five, thirty feel long, it's narrow head and beak-like snout probably twice her size.

She wanted to yell for Ami to drop her, for Mako to bring Minako to her, and for the two of them to defend themselves. It was the only choice now; she was positive the thing had seen them and it clearly meant them harm. But she could not find the words to tell them this. Frantically, she thought of the pistol holstered to her belt, but her arms would not move to seize it. But this time it was pain that kept her frozen, and not fear.

The aching in her head swelled up again. She felt dizzy and nauseous. Her arm was so stiff. Her whole body…legs…chest…everything. She though her head might split in two, the world was spinning. But she had to act, had to fight back. Somehow.

And then the inevitable happened; her will yielded to the pain and she lost consciousness.

NOTE:

Once upon time, when I was maybe twelve years old and first getting into Sailor Moon fanfiction of this particular variety, I read a Senshi/Shitennou story where Rei and Endymion were cousins. I liked that idea very much, so I've used it. Thanks, whoever you are that wrote that story so long ago…


	2. rescue

**chapter two- rescue**

Ami screamed as Rei collapsed against her, pulling them both to the forest floor. She scrambled to disentangle herself from the other girl then shook her desperately, hoping to revive her. It was no use; her body had had enough and shut itself down to recuperate.

"Makoto!" Ami cried. "Bring Minako over here to me. Distract…whatever this thing is while I bring the other girls to safety."

"But Ami I-"

"Makoto please try!"

She stood and bravely faced in the direction of the charging beast. _I may be able to buy her some extra time_, she thought. Ami closed her eyes and focused the energy within her. She had practiced it a million times. If she couldn't perform under pressure, in an actual combat situation, what was the point of training her powers at all? She could handle this, she knew what she was doing, she _had _to know what she was doing. Or they were already as good as dead.

Her eyes snapped open and she inhaled sharply. She brought her hands in front of her, focusing all of her energy into her curved fingertips. Water began to materialize around them, great, iridescent bubbles, that multiplied and grew as she concentrated. "Shabon Spray!" she cried finally, and the bubbles flew towards the monstrous creature, bursting in mid-air and creating a thick fog that she, miraculously, could always see through. Fortunately, this time was no exception, and she descended upon Rei, dragging her behind a giant tree trunk that, judging by the fairly golden brown quality of the exposed flesh had only recently fallen.

"Mako!" Ami called. "I can see you perfectly! Leave Minako, and charge that creature. Your powers do more damage than mine; I'll be there to help you as soon as I've secured Minako."

Makoto silently obeyed and ran warily off into the mist. Ami wasn't sure if her comrade could see through it the way she could. But her focus was on getting Minako to safety. She would simply have to trust in the abilities of her friend. Grabbing Minako under the arms and dragging her to beside Rei, she was vaguely aware of a cry of "Sparkling Wide Pressure" as the haze created by the bubbles began to dissipate. She stood tall and looked towards the sound, noticing the last sparks of neon lighting crackling into nothingness, while Makoto, looking surprised by her own power, surveyed the damage she had done.

For a moment the creature did not stir and Ami's heart leapt with joy. She charged towards her friend, ready to embrace her in relief and congratulations. Mako did not look at her, but kept her eyes glued to the hulking mass before her. It was then that Ami noticed the thing begin to stir. The lightning had only stunned it. It struggled back to its feet, furiously scraping the ground with its thick-clawed paws. Without warning it charged, bee-lining for Makoto, who remained wide-eyed and firmly rooted to where she stood.

"Mako run!" Ami shrieked. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, fully prepared to leap on top of her friend, to push she our of danger, but she knew she would never make it. She stopped abruptly and focused her energy, lifting her arms and swinging them wildly above her head. Conjured water whirled about them and with a desperate cry of "Shine Aqua Illusion" she sent the water in a spiraling beam careening towards the monster.

It hit. The creature ceased in its pursuit, shook its head and roared its discomfort, its cry shrill and birdlike. It then craned its neck in the direction of the attack and spotted Ami. The attack was nothing more than a nuisance. The monster wasn't injured; she had merely redirected its anger. Fearing that she no longer had enough energy in her to execute another attack, and not willing to risk another dud in her current exhausted state, she ran. She heard Mako calling out to her, but could not make out what she was saying. She couldn't think; the powers of a normally supremely capable, pragmatic brain seemed to be entirely devoted to her own survival, to scrambling hopelessly to find some way of recovering energy so she could attack again. Lost in her distress, her foot caught under a fallen branch and she toppled face down onto the leaf-covered ground. She rolled over, spitting out dirt, and sat up to see the creature pursuing her once again.

"Ami!" Mako wailed. Streams of blue lightning shocked the monster from behind, and though it cried out in agony once more, it did not veer from its intended target. There was no escape; Ami braced herself for the attack.

Another beam of blue light hit the creature directly in the side of its dry, scaly neck, and with a final piercing screech it collapsed. Ami blinked in disbelief. _Could it be? Mako saved us? _She rose to her knees and crawled cautiously towards the creature. Had that final beam, that last ditch effort of the lighting-wielding soldier killed it?

"It isn't dead," a rich, male voice said calmly.

Ami gasped and looked to see a man with loose, dark auburn curls, standing a few yards from her. Beside him stood another man, smaller in stature, with short, untidy blonde hair and blue-grey eyes. Both were dressed in garments only gardeners and groundskeepers would ever be seen in on the moon, plain trousers, heavy, leather boots, tunics, and belts, the auburn haired one in a short maroon cloak, the blonde in a boxy black jacket. The taller one held an impressive looking firearm in one hand, which Ami guessed must have been the source of the attack that felled the beast.

"It- it isn't?" she asked dumbly.

"No," the same voice, which she now saw belonged to the taller man, replied. "Just stunned. It's not worth killing it. It's quite harmless, really."

"Quite harmless?" Mako spat. "It nearly devoured us!"

"Well if you would respect its territory and not trespass upon its food source then it wouldn't have any reason to attack you now, would it?" the blonde said, his tone higher and sharper than his companions.

"Food source!" Makoto half-laughed in disgust, "What _food source_?"

"The trees," the taller one replied and smiled softly. "You see they're herbivores. So, even if it had killed you, and don't get me wrong it certainly may have, it would not have eaten you. They're such stupid creatures. They don't realize that other living things don't have the same need or want of leaves that they do and consequently see everything near their precious trees as a threat to their resources."

"But Earthlings learn to recognize the signs of them and avoid their territory," the blonde added. "So they give us no problems."

Ami knew what they were getting at. "So you have already figured out we're not from Earth then," she said.

"Well even if you hadn't had this unfortunate encounter with the Iguanodon, we could have figured that one out form the look of you," the taller man declared.

"Is that what that thing was? An Iguanodon?" Mako asked, stumbling over the last word.

"It's a dinosaur," the taller one said. "The Earth's crawling with them, and not all of them so pleasant as our fallen friend her."

_That thing was pleasant?_ Ami thought, horrified. If they'd run into one of a supposedly more ferocious variety, she suspected they probably would not have lived to find out what it was. She shuddered.

The blonde man had moved away from his companion and begun surveying the area. It didn't take him long to stumble upon the unconscious Rei and Minako, as Ami now noticed the spot she had thought so brilliantly concealed was in fact almost completely exposed. Unless someone stupidly dismissed the girls for mirages of slumbering wood nymphs, but the possibility of that was, frankly, nonexistent. Especially among the practical Earthlings.

"Nephrite, look here," the blonde called. "Two more them. More Moon Children for sure."

"Can you help them?" Ami blurted out, staring hopefully at the man called Nephrite.

"Did the Iguanodon do this?" the blonde man continued. Amy looked over to see him crouched over Rei, studying her mangled face.

"No!" Mako cried. She rushed over to where her friends lay, eyes trained suspiciously on the blonde man as he examined them. "We- our ship crashed here. They were injured during the wreck."

"Well there's nothing we can do for them here," Nephrite said finally in response to Ami's question. He joined his blonde companion beside the fallen girls, kneeled down and grabbed Minako by the arm, shifting to hoist her up onto his back. "Don't worry," he said, smiling at the ostensibly suspicious Mako. "I promise I will do them no more harm than has already been done to them."

"You're going to bring us to some human colony then?" Ami asked, hopefully, though she wasn't sure she should feel optimistic about the possibility.

"No, we're going to bring you to the lair of the magical healing dinosaurs that are going to miraculously make everything right in the world," the blonde chided.

"Hey-" Makoto began to growl.

"Cool it with the sarcasm Jadeite," Nephrite commanded, cutting her off. "They may be from the Moon, but I think they're well aware that life outside their precious little kingdom isn't so idealistic as they're accustomed to."

Ami didn't like where this was going. They had been sent to Earth as ambassadors, to offer the aid of the Moon Kingdom in colonization efforts, but she had a feeling they may have come decades too late. After all, the Moon had not been supportive of the idea to colonize Earth at the time it was proposed, none of the other planets had been. The Earth project was indeed a direct defiance of the Imperial Decree that prohibited colonization until further notice.

"Where…are we exactly?" Ami finally decided to ask. She did want to know where she was being taken but feared that it may be in shackles.

"The Middle Lands of the Earth," Jadeite replied. He now had Rei slung over his shoulders, stomach down, one of his arms grasping her wrist, the other between her knees. "You really did get thrown off course there, didn't you?"

"Where was your final destination?" Nephrite asked and Ami thought his tone expressed a little too much probing interest.

"Uh…the…Northern Islands," Ami lied, spitting out the first geographical location on Earth she could recall from reading the reports on previous Earth missions. "We…have business with the um…the king there."

"How fortunate," Nephrite said, "for you all then that his son is here in the Middle Kingdom even as we speak. He is currently exactly where we are taking you to."

"Well, uh, excellent," Makoto near stuttered, and Ami hoped it was an indication that she understood her intent to conceal their actual mission, and actual identities from their questionable saviors.

"And surely he knew you were coming Sailor Jupiter?" Nephrite asked, with a knowing smile at Makoto.

"Oh I don't expect so," Makoto replied, clearly unaware of the fact that any hope they had of deceiving these Earthlings was lost. "After all communication with Earth is very difficult since-" She suddenly stopped. "Hey wait a minute-"

"Makoto," Ami whimpered, "it's no use. They know."

Jadeite laughed. "Well we'd have to be pretty clueless not to. Four girls, all about seventeen, clearly dressed in Moon Kingdom standard issue uniforms for space travel, but in colors coordinating to those of the princess's guardians little sailor uniforms. I'd say it's pretty damn obvious."

"Well we weren't going for subtlety!" Ami cried. "We had no intention of sneaking around." _Only now I think maybe we should have._

Nephrite sighed and began to walk away, Minako still quite securely on his back. "You can spare us your little story," he said. "Chances are you'll only end up retelling it anyway. What matters now is getting medical attention for your friends here. There's no telling how badly off they really are."

And that was the truth. Both of them thought better of arguing it. They followed Nephrite through the area of gnarled, fallen trees to a clearing, in the midst of which was a perfectly flat, circular stone platform. Wordlessly, he handed Minako off to Ami and Makoto to support between them, and Jadeite indicated that they all should move to stand in the center of platform. Ami then noticed four narrow stone pillars, arranged in the shape of a diamond, surrounding the platform, each with a small sphere at the top of it. Nephrite gently touched first the northern most, then the eastern, western and finally southern. Once he'd removed his hand from the last sphere, Ami felt a peculiar sensation of air blowing upward from the ground below her, but barely had time to even think about determining a source when she was engulfed in a flash of light so brilliantly bright that she was forced to close her eyes.

When she opened them she found that she was not in the forest at all, but standing on a street next to what looked to be the steps of a castle, though it was rather unremarkable in comparison to the elegant palace on Mare Serenitatis. The Moon Palace was all ivory marble, with glittering domed rooftops. It was its own community, surrounded by the ever-calm sea, with housing for all of its inhabitants, servants, tutors, guardians, each house like a miniature version of the central palace. Here the castle was unpolished stone and wood, the steps heavily trodden upon with traces of dirt and grass all over them. The houses were dismally mismatched little huts, with wooden or it looked like perhaps even mud siding and straw-thatched roofs. After witnessing first hand the incredible means of teleportation the Earthlings had developed, Ami was a little disappointed by the city into which they had so brilliantly teleported.

Then she noticed it. The most incredible stonewall she had ever seen. She was sure it must surround the city entirely, though she could not see for certain. It was monstrous, at least twice the height of the castle, which, although it was rather plain looking, was a formidable structure. And as far as she could determine, there were no doors, nor gates, nor any mundane means of entering it.

Jadeite started on up the stairs to the castle, Rei still slung over his shoulders. Nephrite lifted Minako up into his arms and followed. There was no point in attempting to escape, particularly since they a) had not determined if they were in fact prisoners and b) would be abandoning their injured companions to an uncertain fate, so Ami and Makoto walked on behind the men. They were lead into the great hall, where a row of attendant guards bowed low and let them pass.

The hall was as stark and militant as the castle's exterior, the walls bare, save for a few torch hooks. Cast iron chandeliers hung in three locations leading up to the dais, and a much tread upon green carpet paved a clear path to the throne upon it. In wooden throne, that was strong and simple, distinguished as throne rather than chair only by the sheer size of the thing, sat who Ami guessed must be the king of the Middle Kingdom. He was tall and tan, with long silver falling straight past his shoulders and down his back. His eyes were a rich, earthy green and they studied the girls with a completely unreadable interest. He was dressed very much like their two saviors, if one could call them that, except he wore a long, regal cloak, fastened across the shoulders by an ornamented gold chain. It was the flashiest thing Ami had seen all day, though that wasn't saying much.

"Your majesty," Nephrite said, bowing his head. "These girls were out wandering in your forests. They had an unfortunate encounter with an iguanodon."

The king smirked and laughed softly. "You mean to tell me one medium sized dinosaur that doesn't even have proper teeth did all of this?"

"No!" Mako cried, and Ami shot her a warning look. "No, your majesty," she repeated more softly.

"You majesty, if I may," Ami began, bowing in military fashion. She then explained how they had come from the moon lost control of their ship upon entering Earth's atmosphere and how their two comrades had been injured in the crash. She confessed to them being the guardians of the princess.

"I see," the king said stoically. "And what business have you on Earth?"

"We have come to offer the aid of the Moon Kingdom in the colonization of Earth," Ami replied. The words flowed slowly and uncertainly, though they were entirely true.

The king chuckled cheerlessly. "Well, I shall have to hear all about it. You shall have an audience with me, later this evening perhaps? But first, I think we ought to worry about your comrades."

"I have already ordered servants to come and take them to the infirmary Kunzite," a voice echoed from the back of the great hall. Ami spun around to see yet another young man, this one apparently younger than the rest and decidedly fragile and effeminate in comparison to the impressive stature of the king. Six other men in various stages of life stood beside him, and Ami assumed they must be the servants of whom he spoke. They moved towards the injured senshi.

"That would be the son of the man with whom you claim to have business," Ami heard Nephrite whisper to Makoto as he leaned close to her ear.

She did not humor him with a response.

"If you'll just follow me mistresses," a servant said upon reaching the girls. Minako and Rei were already being passed off to other servants and carried out of sight. "I shall take you to the infirmary."

The infirmary was considerably more modern looking than the rest of the castle. Ami had half-expected a place with wooden cots and straw mattresses with nothing but questionable herb fusions and a set of knives for treatment purposes, but this place looked as though someone simply removed sick-bay from one of the Moon Kingdom's largest royal cruisers and planted it in the middle of the castle. She was glad to see her friends machine-scanned thoroughly for injury and though they would not have the incredibly healing powers of Queen Serenity at their disposal, it seemed to her that the Earth physicians had knowledge of and access to modern healing devices.

Within twenty minutes the cut below Makoto's eye had been sealed and a salve applied to help with the healing process and bruising, and she and Ami had been brought to vacant living quarters, changed into plain linen dressing gowns and left to rest while their companions remained in treatment. Minako still had not waken, but the Earth physicians assured them that she should be fine, aside from a splitting headache, and Rei had begun to stir just as servants were ushering the two conscious senshi away to rest.

Makoto lay in the bed beside Ami, on top of the covers, arms folded behind her head. "Do you suppose they're right? That Rei and Minako will be fine?"

"I expect so," Ami replied. She too lay restless upon top of the bulky comforter. Something of such weight would never be necessary on the moon; it never got that cold. "Something tells me that medicine has been a primary concern of Earth's people. It's obviously a far more dangerous place than we ever expected."

"I guess you're right," Makoto agreed. "If they have those strange creatures all over the place. They obviously have gone out of their way to fortify themselves against them."

Ami nodded, certain that her friend referred to the massive wall barricading the city. Even so, she was sure there were many times when Earth's physicians had had to treat injured soldiers, scouts, and possibly civilians too. In some ways, if anyone had to suffer a traumatic injury, Earth seemed the place to do it.

There was a knock at the door. A servant immediately entered without invitation. Two others, both women, their arms full of fabric entered after him.

"The king requests that you come and dine with the court," the first servant said. "He sends you these clothes to wear."

The two women servants unraveled the bundles in their arms and lay out two gowns on the bed. They were complicated and heavy looking, but really quite beautiful, though not in the same airy and elegant fashion of the Lunar court. Ami wondered to whom the gowns belonged.

"Thank you," the princess of Mercury said, curtseying in polite courtier fashion. "We shall be delighted to accept his majesty's invitation."

The servants bowed and left them.

"Ami, do you think we should be concerned at all?" asked Makoto.

"Of course, we must always be alert," Ami replied. "But we've no tangible reason to mistrust him and our friends are still in his physicians' care. We've no choice but to cooperate."

NOTES:

So yeah, of course dinosaurs were all named by modern scientists, but what the heck! Easier to just use the modern classifications and help with the visualization than to make up new archaic names and have to go into super lengthy descriptions.

I dreamed up this idea of the conflict between the Earth and Moon taking place during the late crustaceous era when I was in a general science class in college and we were studying the planets.


	3. ransom

**chapter 3- ransom**

She awoke. Her eyes opened slowly and the light was almost as painful as the throbbing in the back of her head. From the overhead lights and stark white scenery she might have guessed that she was in sick bay on one of the Moon Kingdom's royal cruisers, but she had been traveling by shuttle for the short trip to the Earth.

"Ah you're awake," a voice said. An unfamiliar female face hovered over her.

"Ye-yes," Minako replied slowly. She sat up cautiously and her mind swam in search any recollection of what had happened. "Where-"

"Are you?" the woman finished her question. "In the Central Kingdom of Earth. The capital city, Rias. Your ship crashed not far from here. You took quite a blow to the head and have been out cold ever since we found you."

She had to admit the last thing she remembered was the ship losing control. She'd dived under something, a counter? A bed? She couldn't recall what. Nor could she recall anything after. "My friends?" she asked. They were nowhere in sight.

"On their way to the great hall to dine with his majesty," the woman said. She was middle-aged, probably close in age to Queen Serenity, though unlike the queen, she showed it. Pleasantly she ambled away from Minako and returned moments later carrying a deep purple gown, constructed of the heaviest fabric the princess of Venus had ever seen. "You're to join them, if you feel you can."

"My head hurts," Minako said.

"Well, I'll give you something for the pain and be on your way."

She helped Minako into the gown, lacing the bodice securely up her back and straightening out the mass of skirts. She surveyed her thoroughly, commenting that the dress just didn't seem quite right without petticoats, but it would have to do. She then lead her through a series of narrow torch-lit hallways that seemed to have come from a different world than the decidedly modern infirmary, pausing every so often to make sure her charge was keeping up with her and still on her feet. As they walked, Minako heard the faint sound of voices engaged in conversation becoming clearer and clearer. Just as she caught glimpse of what must be the door to the great hall, for it was partially ajar and she could just make out the shapes of people seated at a long table, the serving woman stopped short.

"Now careful what you eat at dinner. You may be starving after not eating all these hours, but there's no telling if you'll be able to keep much down. Try drinking a little first."

"I will," Minako said obediently. She made her way to the open door and entered regally, hoping the pills the woman had given her would soon quell her still raging headache

It was a curious site indeed. It was in some ways like dining in the Moon Kingdom, with who, Minako assumed, must be all of the court gathered in the great hall at several tables, eating their fill. But in the Lunar Palace, everyone had individual chairs, silver flatware and crystal wine glasses, and every course was served individually. Here it seemed a free for all, with everyone at the lower tables seated on wooden benches, grabbing at anything and everything they wanted, drinking out of rudimentary steel mugs.

Only the people seated at the table on the dais at the front of the hall were privileged enough to each have their own chair at the table and it was there that she spotted her comrades. They were all in gowns that looked as heavy and impractical as the one she wore. She made her way towards them, catching a glimpse of Rei's relieved expression as she approached.

"Minako," Rei breathed, smiling at her friend. "You're well." Minako could sense the Martian princess fighting the impulse to rush and embrace her leader, but neither girl was about to give up refined courtly appearances.

"Yes," Minako agreed, though the pain in her head was still enough to make her nauseous. "To whom do I my thanks for the hospitality I have been shown in my injured state?"

"It was nothing lady," the tall, silver haired man seated at the center of the table said. "Really, there is no need for any thanks."

"Your majesty, I presume," Minako began, curtseying. "I thank you for the kindness you have shown to me and to my comrades."

"Not at all," the king said, rising, "for it was my own comrades who rescued you and yours from your peril in the forest." He indicated the empty seat beside him. "Do sit and join us. Allow your friends to enlighten you on what has transpired since you lost consciousness."

She graciously accepted the seat beside the king and, amidst pauses for forkfuls of food and sips of wine and water, listened as her comrades, assisted every so often by one of the other young gentleman seated at the table, explained everything that had happened over the last six or so hours. Minako could hardly imagine what must have gone through her friends' heads as they faced the alien creature in the woods, nor could she even begin to picture it, despite their most gruesomely detailed descriptions.

"Truly, they are harmless, so long as you don't disturb their habitat," the king, whom Minako had discovered was called Kunzite, said. "Unfortunately during the early stages of colonization we had no choice but to cut down some of their trees to clear way for the cities and for materials to build them. But this was all long before our time. Now we are mostly able to avoid them."

"It all sounds fascinating," Minako said, though she was not sure she meant it. She couldn't tell if it was just the wine, but she found herself very attracted to the broad shouldered, silver-haired man seated to her left. If he'd suggested the creatures were boring and not worth talking about, she would have agreed.

"If you like," he said, looking her squarely in the eyes, "I could show you the bestiary. We've kept a record of every type of dinosaur we've encountered thus far and recorded all the data on them that we can gather. Perhaps tomorrow?"

She hesitated and could feel herself blushing fiercely. "Why, yes," she finally replied, silently rejoicing in the thought of spending more time with the king.

"Oh it's a boring book really," Nephrite, the man with dark auburn hair seated on Minako's right declared. "Much more interesting to see them up-close and personal."

"Do you not keep electronic records?" Ami, ever the scientist, asked.

"We save our electronic resources for medicinal purposes." It was the blonde called Zoisite, clearly the youngest of the four men at the king's table who spoke.

"So you're technology is limited then?" Ami continued to pry.

"Well, yes, in a sense," Zoisite said. "That is to say, it could be. We are very conservative with it, in the case that it should become less available. We do have a central computer system, linked to the Golden Kingdom. Technicians there receive our paper records and enter them into the electronic database there. It is accessible from the central computer in each of the four surface kingdoms, but we must request access and synchronize with the Golden Kingdom's mainframe."

"So basically you're saying that the Golden Kingdom hordes all of the technology for itself?" Makoto asked brashly.

"Mako!" Ami scolded.

Minako laughed. _How like Mako to say what the rest of us are clearly thinking. _The wine was going straight to her head, which was quite a relief actually, as it was successfully curing her headache. But she was starting to feel a little loose-lipped herself.

"Your majesty," she said, "may I be blunt? Can we go to the Golden Kingdom? It sounds to me like that is the only place on Earth where we could ever dream of getting our ship fixed and returning to the Moon. Unless you're going to fix it all up with stone tools and torch fire up here." She wished she was flirting, but even slightly intoxicated duty still came first.

"In such a hurry to leave are you?" Kunzite asked, once again locking eyes with her. He laughed and her heart somersaulted at the pleasant ring of it. "Of course you shall go to the Golden Kingdom. I suspect his majesty King Aethilus shall be glad to see his cousin." He indicated the still somewhat battered looking Rei. "It is my understanding that you wished to go there even before your ship rather ungracefully landed."

"Well yes," Minako agreed, though she suddenly couldn't remember why. Everything seemed to be hazy. Maybe the blow to her head had affected her more than she originally thought.

"We are on summer progress," Kunzite declared. "We were all en route to the Golden Kingdom anyway. We are due to leave tomorrow."

"Summer progress?" one of the girls asked, but Minako could not make out who. Ami maybe?

"Yes," one of the men said. "It is when we all leave our duties at the Golden Kingdom for the summer months and spend weeks in our own kingdoms. The King and Prince spend a short time with each of us. And in the end of summer we all convene here and return to the Golden Kingdom."

"Th-this is summer?" an appalled voice exclaimed, and Minako was sure it was Makoto.

"Yes. The Earth is getting colder every year."

"Hah."

"Y-you're all kings then? Of your own…places…on Earth?"

"Princes. Only Kunzite had inherited his throne."

"Oh."

"H-how…lovely."

Minako could no longer see straight. She closed her eyes and all was black again.

. . .

She awoke fearing the worst, that the blow to head her head had done serious damage and she would never be able to remain conscious for more than a few hours. Or maybe the painkillers she took had a bad reaction with the alcohol. Maybe she'd caused more damage by mixing the two. But then she noticed that she was not lying on a bed in the infirmary. Indeed, she was not on a bed at all, but rather a floor, as she guessed from the cool, firm pressure against her cheek.

_Have I only just fainted?_ she wondered.

She opened her eyes to see a line of flat, cold stone stretched out below her cheek. The line was interrupted however by another human form lying in a heap of skirts and billowing sleeves. It was Makoto. Minako jerked upright and looked around to find Rei, lying practically on top of her and Ami not far off.

_What's going on? _she wondered, uneasily surveying her surroundings. They were in a dim, dingy little room, lit only by torchlight. There was a tiny crack of a window right where the back wall met the ceiling, and through it Minako could see the hint of starlight in the night sky. It was the front wall of the place that unnerved her, for it was no wall at all. It was a row of narrow, close set, metal bars.

"Hello?" Minako called, trying hard to keep her rising panic out of her tone. When no one answered, she cried out again, "Hello?"

Rei stirred beside her and Minako grasped her shoulder and shook her insistently to wake her. "Rei, Rei _wake up_!" she cried.

"Wha…what's happened?" Rei asked groggily. She sat up slowly and took in her surroundings. "Where are we?"

"Imprisoned obviously," Minako replied curtly.

"I can see that," Rei agreed. "But where? And by whom?"

"I don't know," Minako admitted. She hung her head despairingly. "All I remember is being at dinner, and suddenly everything started going fuzzy."

"The same as me," Rei agreed, her tone more perplexed than distressed. "I just thought I was getting a little drunk."

"Me too," Minako said. Suddenly cold, she drew her knees into her chest and hugged them close to her. She had only one thought. "You don't think…"

"That we were drugged and taken prisoner?" Rei asked, voicing her friend's unspoken fear. "No. I mean we couldn't have. I know things have not been so cordial between the Earth and Moon in the past, but we have not had direct contact with them in nearly sixteen years. They've no reason to call us enemy. And I am the king's cousin! Surely he must not think that my father or his descendants have no love for their family."

Minako wasn't so sure and was not about to pretend that Rei's words had assuaged her fear.

The sound of footsteps clanging faintly against stone drew her attention to the hint of hallway she could see through the prison bars. The sound grew louder and louder, and the stark scenery became more evident thanks to, Minako realized, a burning torchlight that cast a faint orange glow on the barren, goldish hued stones. In expectant horror she found herself confronted by four familiar, regal faces, no longer so jovial and welcoming as they had been at dinner.

"So you're awake," Jadeite, the older of the two blondes remarked.

"Some powers of observation," Rei said. She had probably meant it to be a spiteful retort, but her tone conveyed only shock.

"Confused Mars?" Nephrite asked jeeringly.

"I'm-" she began.

"King Aethilus's cousin," Jadeite said, finishing her sentence. "Yes, we know."

"But I don't understand," Rei persisted.

"I'm not so sure about that Sailor Mars," Zoisite said.

"What do you mean?" Minako demanded. "Are you suggesting that we've done something that would _give_ you some reason to kidnap us?"

"Perhaps," Kunzite replied.

"Wha- what's going on?" a groggy female voice asked. It was Ami, half-way between lying down and sitting up, propped up on her elbows, blue eyes squinting at the torchlight.

"I'm afraid you've been taken prisoner Sailor Mercury," Kunzite said gently. Minako thought he sounded almost soothing, as if he were someone not responsible for their imprisonment but rather a friend, genuinely disappointed at their situation.

"For what reason?" she asked, now much more alert.

"Why indeed. What do you think?" Nephrite asked.

"We already told you, we have no idea!" Minako cried. "So why don't you jut tell us and get on with it."

Kunzite laughed softly. It was that same laugh Minako had liked so much at dinner, that closed-lipped amused laugh; it now mocked her. "Impatient, aren't we Minako?"

He locked eyes with her again and beneath her growing rage she still felt somehow entranced by his gaze. "Yes," she said finally, looking away. "What is it that you want of us?" She hated that she could not look back to him as she asked it.

"Want? From you?" he asked. "Nothing in particular."

"Then what's going on?" Rei demanded, finding a shred of her usual feistiness.

"Your cousin, our Lord, the Crown Prince of Earth has gone missing," Kunzite replied sternly.

"Endymion? Missing?" Rei asked incredulously. "When?"

"Just yesterday," the silver haired king answered. "We heard the news of it several hours before we discovered you all lost in the forest."

Without thinking Minako said, "You can't possibly think that we've anything to do with it."

"Perhaps not directly," Kunzite said coolly. "But I'll be damned if your arrival isn't somehow related to this."

"You don't understand," Minako protested. "We've come to offer our aid in furthering the colonization of the Earth! We were to attempt to establish open communications between the Earth and Moon Kingdoms!"

"Oh naïve little Moon creatures," Nephrite mused. "Always so eager to trust the intentions of their beloved rulers. How do you that you have not merely been sent as a distraction? Or as pawns in the Moon Kingdom's plan to conquer the Earth?"

Makoto had groggily come to her senses not long after Ami and, now very much awake exclaimed. "We are guardians of the Princess! There are none, save her very closest advisors, closer in the Queen's confidence than we! We protect her daughter, her only heir!"

"And I suppose that's why she sent just the four of you and not her real diplomats who are hired and trained for this type of work?" Nephrite retorted.

"We represent the four planets in closest proximity to Moon who show her their allegiance," Minako said coolly. "Do not forget that we are more than servants of the Princess, we too are princesses of our own planets and is diplomacy not a component of courtly upbringing?"

Kunzite smirked. "A very major one," he mused. "And don't worry princess. We have not forgotten your very exalted status. Indeed, it makes you all the more valuable to us. For you see, if the Moon Kingdom is waging a war against Earth, we may be able to persuade your father kingdoms to join us in exchange for your freedom."

Minako was speechless. _ How could I be so careless? I should not have accepted their hospitality so openly. I have left both my Princess and my own kingdom vulnerable._

"But you don't even know if the Moon does have designs upon the Earth," Ami protested weakly.

"Exactly," Kunzite agreed. "So we shall hold you captive until we discover what has become of Prince Endymion and use you to bribe Queen Serenity into revealing whether or not the Moon Kingdom has anything to do with it.

Now get some rest. We've a long journey to make tomorrow and none of you are any use to us if you're sick and feeble," he commanded.

"What do you mean?" Rei asked. "Where are you taking us?"

"To the Golden Kingdom, naturally," Kunzite replied. "We are on summer progress after all, and what safer place to stash our most valuable commodity than within the walls of the most impenetrable fortress on the Earth?"

**Notes:**

-Yes, "Rias" is a city in the SNES game _Sailor Moon: Another Story_. And it is a city of all men and I KNOW there are women in my Rias. Just wait.

-I obviously meant the the late CRETACEOUS era in the notes of the last chapter. I realized I don't think I've ever spelled the word and I have been pronouncing it wrong all along. I seem to fancy that there was era where the world was populated by shellfish XD


	4. progress

**chapter 4- progress**

The next morning, Makoto found herself begrudgingly being fitted in trousers and leathers for her journey to the Golden Kingdom. They were to go in two groups, she and Rei with the first group who would scout ahead and clear the way for the larger, second group, accompanied by the king. There was a chance they may encounter more dinosaurs like they had back in the woods, and apparently these ones might not be so "docile". So it was determined that Rei and Makoto should be outfitted for combat.

The only problem was, in addition to the protective traveling gear, the two Senshi were also being equipped with impressive metal bracers that, in addition to providing added forearm protection, prevented them from using their powers.

"Cheer up, Jupiter," Nephrite chided, noticing her dismay. "It's not like we're leaving you totally defenseless. We're just taking precautions. Wouldn't want you zapping us in the back and making a run for it."

He was to lead the scouting party and Makoto was sick of him already. She couldn't fathom how she was going to stand his company for who knows how many days. Of all the Earth lords, he was the most arrogant and forward. And, if Makoto had to guess, stubborn. He seemed incapable of keeping his mouth shut about anything having to do with battle prowess. While she and Rei were being outfitted for travel, he'd done nothing but ramble on about the dangerous monsters they might encounter in their journey, and how he had bested them all before and lived for the challenge. He'd probably been more specific than that, but Makoto couldn't be bothered to listen.

They were to leave within the hour, the girls having been roused at dawn to be prepared for travel. They would travel northwest, along the well traveled, man-made path through the forest, passing almost directly through the place where they'd had the iguanodon encounter. Once they got through the forest, it would be up a mountain, to the caves of some flying monsters Makoto couldn't remember the name of, though she guessed it ended in "don" or "saurus" as all these Earth monsters' names seemed to. These were tamed monsters though, in the care of Flightmasters, and they would fly on from there to the Golden Kingdom entry point.

Having been satisfactorily outfitted, the two Senshi were lead to join the rest of the scouting party who were just completing their own final travel preparations. There were only a handful of people, a few guards, some male servants, and a soldier or two among the ranks. The majority of the household remained permanently at Rias, and most of the other nobles, and even soldiers who would be making the progress to the Golden Kingdom would go with the king. Makoto thought that either they must be awfully confident in the abilities of the two princes leading the party to handle any dangers they may encounter, or the journey was not nearly as perilous as Nephrite made it out to be.

"Come," Nephrite commanded while Makoto and Rei stood forlorn amongst the bustle of servants packing supplies onto a modestly sized wooden carriage. He beckoned for them to follow him. "We must see the Beastmaster and find you a suitable mount."

He lead them away from the kitchen door and off towards what must have been the stables, though they looked unlike any Makoto had ever seen. The were a considerable distance from the castle with walls that appeared to be no structure of man but of nature, as if the entire town had been built around this already extant cave. Inside it still looked like it was a natural cave, with only a few rudimentary manmade stables inside.

They were greeted by a middle-aged, lean, and hard-looking fellow, garbed in leathers quite similar to those they had recently been fitted with, though his were soiled and faded with wear. His hair had all gone grey, and his face was weathered and gnarled. Everything about him seemed stern and commanding and when Makoto caught a glimpse of the kind of beasts he was keeper of, she could understand why.

These were not the ethereal pegasi or griffins that the Moon people called their steeds. They were unlike anything else in the Moon's domain, except for the small sampling of Earth creatures she had seen. Their forelegs were short, like the arms of a human, while the rear-legs were long and massive. They carried themselves upright, but their backs remained horizontal and curved up to a long neck, ending in a relatively small head. Their faces were bird-like, but scaly, and they must have been at least ten feet in length.

"I've come to fit these girls to ride," Nephrite declared. "One should do for the two of them."

"These are your prisoners then," the Beastmaster observed. "They're clearly not of Earth-stock. Much too soft." He chuckled. "Well, let's hope the two of them together can handle one of our nags."

Makoto was dying to ask exactly what this "nag" was that she was being helped onto the back of, but she refrained. She wasn't going to allow anyone the pleasure of jeering at her ignorance again. She bit her tongue and held fast to the leather strap fastened about the abdomen of the creature that seemed to be there in lieu of a saddle. Rei was lifted up, seated in front of her and given the reins to the creatures bridle.

"Now Nessie here is pretty docile, and she knows the route you're taking well," the Beastmaster said. "She won't take much handling. The bridle is just a strap around the top part of her snout, no bit like you Moonies use on your flying pegasi. But same idea, you pull back on it, she feels the tug on her mouth and knows to slow down or flat out stop. You shouldn't need to though, unless you suffer an expected attack."

"No need to frighten the girls with your jabber of dinosaur attacks, Jogen," Nephrite said, and Makoto sneered at his suggestion that she might be frightened at the prospect of battle. After all, she _was_ a capable warrior.

"Yes Lord Nephrite," the Beastmaster obeyed. "Safe journey to you."

Nephrite mounted his own monstrous stride and rode out of the stables to rejoin the group. Rei started as their monster moved to follow and Makoto guessed that she had not willed it to move. Never the less, they followed and joined the party of other, already mounted scouts near the clearing where the girls had first teleported into the city just a day before.

Though the king was not joining them, he was there to see them off. An unwilling pair, Minako and Ami, were retained by soldiers at his side, both of them still clad in women's clothes, though they now wore ankle-length day dresses, rather than long, full skirted gowns. They too wore metal bracers about their forearms to prevent the use of their powers. Young Lord Zoisite was there as well, his eyes vacant as they passively observed the commotion of the scouts making ready to leave.

Satisfied with extent of their preparations, Nephrite approached the king. "We are ready to take our leave Kunzite. We will send word as soon as we have reached the base of the mountain path."

"May you have a swift and uneventful journey. My own party shall depart as soon as we have the word that you have safely arrived," Kunzite said, reaching up to grasp the hand of his comrade.

"Venus," he continued, "Do you not wish to bid farewell to your friends?"

"Goodbye Mars, Goodbye Jupiter," she said formally, coldly, though her eyes betrayed her love for them. "I hope that in the face of danger these men will be wise enough to unbind you and let you aid them in battle. May we meet again soon." She bowed her head and curtsied deeply.

Nephrite led the party of ten, including Jadeite and the two senshi to the central platform in the clearing. Zoisite moved to touch the stone pillar to the west. Teleporting out of the city proved to be not nearly as complicated as getting in. One touch of the metal orb atop the pillar and the castle-town was disappearing around them and quickly being replaced with a thick deciduous forest. Makoto never would have imagined it possible to transport eight mounted riders, plus an additional beast hauling a small cartload of supplies, out of the castle walls all at once, had she not witnessed it for herself.

"Impressed are we?" Jadeite asked. Both senshi must have looked as stunned as Makoto felt.

"Yes," Mako admitted. "It's obvious where you Earth people focus all of your technology."

"We haven't got a choice," Jadeite said. "The safety of the people comes before all else."

They started off along the path, Nephrite leading the group, Jadeite taking up the rear. Both of them were more heavily armed than any of the other scouts, so they were best suited to protect the group in the event of a dinosaur encounter. Not to mention they were better trained, being of nobility, and outfitted with more sophisticated weaponry. The two senshi rode behind Nephrite, followed by four of the six guards riding two by two. The supplies cart, followed by another set of guards made up the end of the train, excepting Jadeite.

Makoto was fidgety and restless as they rode that morning. Everything looked the same, just trees, trees, and more trees, with the occasional sapling or jungle of underbrush, and she had no sense of progress. She'd hoped that they might begin to see signs of the forest letting up and yielding way to a clearing, or that the land might begin to slope upward suggesting they were nearing the mountain. Unfortunately, every time the land began to rise, it soon fell again, sometimes seemingly lower than it was before they began their ascent. And she was surprised to find that the Beastmaster's description of a dinosaur attack being "unexpected" was correct. They had neither seen nor heard any hint of the beasts.

"Lord Nephrite," she said finally. "How much further until we reach our destination?"

"With any luck, we should arrive by nightfall. Then we shall be able to sleep in the beds in the inn there and recuperate for our journey up to the caverns of the Flightmaster," he replied.

_Surely we are going to rest before then!_ Makoto thought, but kept it to herself to keep from seeming a pampered princess. Though she had to admit, life on the Moon had never featured such a long and grueling journey as she was taking right now. The only time she ever rode was for pleasure, not travel. She rarely ventured beyond the Mare Serenitatis, and when she did, it was never to other locations on the moon, but rather trips home to Jupiter, which were of course made by spacecraft.

By some miracle, within the next few minutes, they reached a clearing with a swift, broad stream, and they stopped to water and feed the monsters. Makoto was happy to be off the back of the thing and ventured down by the water to get a drink herself. The break was short lived though, and soon a guard was helping both senshi back onto the back of their dinosaur and they were once again, on their way.

This time, Makoto had the reins, and she found herself slightly more entertained than she was simply riding passenger. Though not much, for the Beastmaster again was right, and Nessie did run more or less on autopilot. There was certainly no chance of making a break for it on the back of this rigidly trained beast.

_Not that I would want to,_ Mako thought. _Just because we don't see them, doesn't mean there aren't dinosaurs around._

Suddenly Makoto felt Rei's body tense up behind her and Nessie's steps became more hesitant. "Rei?" she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Something isn't right," Rei replied

"Are you sure?" Makoto asked. Martian women were widely known to be able to sense negative energy, and the trait was said to be particularly strong in the royal family. Of course the galaxy had been at peace since Rei was a baby and she never had a chance to learn whether or not the gift existed in her.

"I don't know," Rei admitted. "But I think there is something or someone who wants to hurt us. It isn't far off."

Overhearing them, Nephrite laughed. "Oh calm yourself Mars. We are far away from any herbivores territory and the carnivores tend to gravitate towards those areas where their own food sources find food."

"Lord Nephrite!" one of the soldiers from near the back of the train cried. He raced forward beside him. "Lord Nephrite it's…I think it's a Tyrant!"

"What?" Nephrite asked, his tone shocked and, Makoto thought, fearful.

"Yes, my gallimimus lost it's footing back there, and well, the ground was uneven because…"

"A Tyrant's footprint?" Nehprite asked.

"You'd better come see Sir," the guard half stammered. Instantly, Nephrite's monster darted towards the back of the party.

"What's a Tyrant?" Makoto asked uneasily, knowing that something that could shake the ever-boastful Nephrite must be terrifying indeed.

She needn't have asked. Almost immediately a monstrous, scaly figure appeared out of the shadows of the trees to their right. It was massive; the size of a moderate two story building, with a face like the all the dragons of legend. Except the head was enormous in ratio to the body. Its eyes were a malignant amber, and even with its mouth shut it displayed two rows of jagged, hideous teeth. It walked upright, like the creatures they road, and its arms were miserably short, but it's back legs appeared frightfully strong, and each one scads larger than the tallest human.

"Don't move," a guard whispered harshly, and Makoto realized that the impulse to run had not even set in yet, she was so overcome with shock.

"What?" Rei questioned incredulously, though Makoto could still feel her grip, stiff and rigid behind her.

"It doesn't see well," the guard explained. "Dismount slowly. Your gallimimus is going to sense its presence and try to run soon. If you're still on it when it does, you'll be chased and eaten too."

"Uh huh," Makoto managed, taking care not to nod her head in agreement. She watched the creature like a hawk. Everyone in the party had come to a terrified halt, and the Tyrant she realized was not as close as she first imagined. It had apparently not yet seen them, but moved its head around as if searching for something. For them, for _food_ most likely.

Suddenly one of the guard's beasts spooked and made as if to flee. The Tyrant descended upon it before it could even really make an attempt to escape. It captured the creature directly around the throat in its terrible jaws and with a shake of its head un-horsed the rider, sending him careening to the ground.

Makoto didn't see what happened next for being pulled forcefully from the back of her mount and thrown in the direction of a thicket of bushes.

"Hide here and lie still!" Nephrite commanded, pressing her body downward. "We've been found out."

"The guard fought back Nephrite!" Jadeite's still only mildly panicked voice called. "We're going to have to try and take it down."

"Damn!" Nephrite cursed, rising to his feet.

"I'll try and wrangle my gallimimus and wound it. If the smell of blood can get the Tyrant's attention on it and it runs, the beast might just pursue it and leave us alone," Jadeite said, un-holstering one of his blasters and preparing for combat.

"Alright," Nephrite agreed. "I'll fight in the meanwhile. Be ready to assist in the kill should your plan fail."

Jadeite nodded and ran back in the direction of his terrified gallimimus. The poor beast was skittishly pacing in debilitating panic as it cowered in the presence of the hulking monster. Nephrite charged in the opposite direction, blaster at the ready. He was too late to save the fallen guard; the beast turned its head towards them, it's mouth now saturated with the blood of both the dead gallimimus and its unfortunate rider.

For a moment, Makoto watched dumbfounded as Nephrite fired blast after blast, first at the feet of the creature, then gradually aiming upwards towards the chest. Then she came to her senses. She was no helpless civilian in need of protection by those more powerful and capable than herself. No, she was Sailor Jupiter, the senshi of Jupiter, with the power of lightning at her command. She'd done damage to one dinosaur before, what was another?

She climbed to her feet and ran into the fray, unsheathing the short sword that was the only weapon the armorers in Rias has seen fit to equip her with. Makoto had no intention of engaging in melee with the monster, but she thought she could maybe do some damage by hurling her sword at it. She stopped in her tracks and took aim. Not certain of where the creatures heart was, she opted to go for an eye. She cocked her arm back over her shoulder and flung the sword with all of her might, sending it spiraling in the direction of the Tryant's face.

The blade missed, but the hilt of the sword did hit the eye, causing the creature to rear back in discomfort for a moment before locking on her direction.

"Makoto! What are you doing?" Nephrite demanded before firing another blast to turn the creature's attention back to him.

"What does it look like?" she replied. "I am trying to help you!"

"Stop it! You'll get yourself killed!" he retorted.

"Release my bracers!" she cried back. "If you do, I can help you! I can kill this thing."

"We both can!" It was Rei who spoke. She now stood confidently at Makoto's side, short sword in hand.

"Unnecessary," Nephrite said, dismissing them. "I have the situation under control!" He fired another blast and closed the gap between himself and the monster. He drove his long sword into the scaly body and pulled himself up onto its back, clinging fervently to his sword as the creature reared in attempt to shake him off.

"Nephrite stop being stubborn! We can help you!" Rei called, but he ignored her.

Once the creature had stopped raging, Nephrite clambered further up its back, piercing the skin just below the arm with his dagger, and drawing his sword, now dripping with blood, out of the previous injury. He fought to steady himself where he clung to the tyrant's back, and lifted his sword with his free hand, fumbling to get to get a clear shot at its throat. He swung blindly and came toppling down.

Rei flew to where he had fallen and slashed at the monsters knees. Nephrite managed to pull himself to his feet and stumble out of danger, just as Rei hit the ground and rolled away to avoid being trampled. Makoto caught sight of her own fallen weapon and rushed into the melee to retrieve it.

Another hit from a blaster made the creature stagger backwards and Makoto retreated to see Jadeite standing not two yards away, his blaster still aimed.

"Jadeite please!" she implored him. "Get these bracers off us!"

Without a word he switched his aim and Makoto was again paralyzed with shock as she realized he was aiming directly at her. She raised her arms to shield herself from the blow. An instant later, one of her bracers lay shattered on the ground. "No time for keys," Jadeite declared and made short work of the other.

"Thank you Jadeite!" Makoto exclaimed, her voice still shaky. She turned on her heels and faced her assailant, calling for her comrade to get out of her way. Rei obeyed, helping Nephrite to clear out as well. Makoto crossed her arms in front of her, her hands up by her face and concentrated. Sparks of brilliant blue lightning gathered around her outstretched fingers, crackling as it increased in intensity. With a cry of "Supreme Thunder!" she sent the sparks flying towards the beast.

With the rest of the damage the beast had already sustained, the blow from her attack was enough to visibly weaken the creature and delay its assault. Makoto prepared herself to launch another attack, but Rei beat her to it. A wave of swirling fire washed over the creature and singed out whatever life remained in it. Jadeite had obviously released Rei too.

"Rei!" Makoto gasped, turning and running towards her friend. She threw her arms around her in relief. "You've done it!"

"_We've_ done it," Rei corrected. "My attack wouldn't have killed it without the damage done from yours."

The two princes approached them, Nephrite leaning on Jadeite for support. The taller man observed them coolly, his eyes conveying no thanks for the girls' heroism. "Well," he began, "we shall have to make haste to the first forest post and seek more supplies."

"You need to rest and recover from that attack," Makoto declared.

"Me?" Nephrite asked, putting up a front of incredulity. "I need nothing. It's you Moon people who could barely stand to ride the whole day long, let alone go for a day without ample food and water."

Makoto felt her temper flare at Nephrite's ungrateful remark, but she suppressed it and let it subside. There was no need to argue with him. After all, he had already suggested they take shelter and whether he'd admit it or not, that would allow him time to recuperate.

"We shall have to continue on foot," Jadeite declared. "All of our gallimimus have fled. There's a chance they'll return to this spot, but we're asking for trouble sitting here with this dead tyrant. The scavengers will be here soon and some of them have been known to opt for fresh meat as well."

NOTES:

Waaahsorry it took me so long to update. This chapter has been done for a long time actually, only I've been on vacation and didn't get around to editing it.


	5. fairy tale

**chapter 5- fairy tale**

Ami was alone in the library. In the midst of all the hustle and bustle of servants preparing the king's party for their departure, she had managed to slip away. After much creeping about she finally discovered the heavy oaken door, which was nigh identical to every other door in the formidable fortress, that led to the chamber of towering bookshelves stocked with books and manuscripts.

Overwhelmed for the moment, she could do nothing but stare up at the shelves looming above her. The ceiling must have been as tall as the whole castle and she saw that the only way she could reach the topmost shelves was to climb one of several unnervingly tall ladders, leaning precariously against the edge of the bookshelves. Hoping that she would not have to attempt such a feat, she began to look for some sign of organization. She wasn't entirely sure _what_ she was looking for but surely she might be inspired as she began to peruse.

She started with the shelf nearest the entrance and reached for a book at eyelevel. As she dislodged it from the surrounding books she was greeted with a thin cloud of dust that accumulates on books when they have sat on the their shelves for a while. She sneezed as the dry particles found their way into her nostrils and she staggered backwards to avoid breathing in any foreign, Earthen bacteria strains that might live amongst the dust.

The first book she opened was nothing of great importance; it was a book of legends that were widely known and popular with children throughout the galaxy. Ami herself vaguely recalled being read tales from it by her nursemaid during that brief period of her childhood when she lived in her father's palace on Mercury. She put the book down on a table in the aisle that ran between the two rows of shelves and continued her perusal.

_Perhaps there is something in here that might give me some hint as to how Earthlings power their computers,_ she thought. _Then maybe I could figure out some way to repair our ship._

Content that all of the books in the first section of the library were works on fiction, she moved on to the second set of shelves, and discovered more familiar works, essays on faith and philosophy, written by Moon scholars of ages long past. Of course many of those scholars were actually still alive, since a Moonite's natural lifespan was approximately a thousand years. Ami wasn't entirely sure how old any of her superiors were, due to the fact that they all appeared youthful and healthy, most of them having stopped aging around their middle or late twenties.

She continued on to the next set of shelves and was about to reach for a book when she noticed a giant tome that lay open upon a podium at the end of the room furthest from the entrance. She approached and found that a quill rested beside it, with an inkwell not far off. The exposed page contained a gruesomely detailed drawing of a creature unlike anything Ami had ever seen, yet somehow similar to the creature that had attacked them in the forest just yesterday.

_This must be the bestiary of which the king spoke last night,_ she thought, though she wasn't entirely sure if that really was only last night. For all she knew, she might have been asleep for days. She turned forward one page and found the book to be quite blank. Content that all of the subsequent pages were reserved for new discoveries, she began flipping backwards, her eyes widening as she took in the horrific images inscribed on the yellowish paper.

_I cannot believe people have managed to survive here with all of these creatures roaming about. How many people must have died in the early days of Earth colonization…_

"Been reading fairy tales have you Mercury?" a voice called, interrupting her thoughts.

She turned around to find Zoisite leaning against the table where she had left the book, the discarded item in hand. Had she forgotten to close the door behind her? Or had she just been so wrapped up in the bestiary that she failed notice the sound of the door creeking open and closed or his feet against the naked wood floor?

"I-" she began to reply, but could think of nothing to say that would not give away the fact that she was searching for something to aid her in her escape.

"You didn't really think no one knew where you were did you?" he asked, opening the book and flipping through the pages.

"Well…no," she admitted, though she had hoped.

"So what are you doing here then?"

"I…I was just looking through your bestiary," Ami replied. "It's quite extensive. The hand renderings are really quite detailed."

"Has drawing gone out of style in the more civilized parts of the galaxy?" he asked, eyes still locked on the open book.

"Not for art's sake. But for scientific records, we of course use image capturers and digital renderings," Ami answered.

"I see," he said simply, and flipped another page.

"What are you doing?" Ami asked.

"Just recalling some of these old children's tales," Zoisite replied. "Don't tell me you're too advanced for bedtime stories?"

"I am not," she declared indignantly.

"Which one is your favorite?" he asked, looking up at her for the firs time since picking up the book. She was surprised to find that she could not answer immediately for being entranced by her newfound discovery that the young prince had very, _very_ green eyes.

"Uh," she murmured ineloquently, "I don't really know. It's been so long since I've heard any of them."

"Oh come now!" Zoisite exclaimed. He walked a few steps towards her. "Surely you must remember one or two."

"But I've not heard any of them since I was a mere babe in my father's kingdom!" she protested. It surprised her. Normally she would have considered before she spoke and rarely would she speak in such loud, impassioned tones.

"You mean to say that you were sent away to live at court right after leaving the nursery?" he pried and continued to close the distance between them.

"No," she replied curtly and then confessed, "I mean, yes. I mean…I am not obligated to discuss my past with the person who is holding me prisoner."

Zoisite laughed. "You don't look much like a prisoner. I see no shackles on you. Aside from those bracers."

"That prevent me from using my powers," Ami reminded him. "If I could cast spells, I might stand a fighting chance at escape. But I can't and your allies far outnumber mine."

He said nothing but went back to skimming the book. For a moment they stood in silence. Ami watched Zoisite read taking note of the subtle changes in his expression. She could not decipher their meaning, only the vague hints of subdued emotion. Suppressed maybe. For the first time she noticed how very young he was. He was certainly no older than she, possibly younger. The other princes had hardened, rugged features, but his were delicate and unspoiled. She wondered if he'd ever even handled a weapon, much less engaged in combat with one of those monsters that seemed to run rampant all about the Earth.

"Which tale is your favorite?" Ami asked finally to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Well it's changed over the years," Zoisite replied. "You see a lot of them are love stories, and as a child I thought all of those were rather dull. I liked the hero stories, though the monsters in them seemed awfully trite and fanciful compared to the ones I had seen in my own life."

He took a few more steps towards her, his hand finally stopping its turning and clenching down and open page. "But now I like this one," he said, handing the book over to Ami.

"The Constant Melody," she read aloud and then continued, "Once upon a time there lived a Great King, and that King had five lovely daughters. As each of them turned sixteen, they were married to the sons of the kings of all the kingdoms far and wide and once the youngest daughter was married the whole of the world would be at peace."

"There are six princesses. Delia the eldest marries Sud, the prince of the southern lands, then the twins Emilia and Ovelia who are a year younger than her marry the princes of the east and west," Zoisite explained. "Then the fourth daughter Cecelia is married to her true love Nord, the prince of the northern lands."

"So all of the princesses get married and the whole world lives in peace and harmony," Ami said, flipping ahead in the book to try to keep up with Zoisite's explanation of the plot.

"Ah no. The youngest daughter Aurelia has not yet been married," Zoisite interjected. "You see wedding preparations for the marriage of the youngest daughter to the son of the king of the dark lands took much longer than those of all the rest. For you see this wedding was not only going to celebrate the marriage of the young couple but also would celebrate the onset of universal peace."

"So what happened?" Ami asked, completely forgetting about her endeavor to follow along with the text.

"Well Aurelia was to wed Shade, the prince of darkness. Now he was not evil, simply the crown prince of the dark lands. Aurelia and all of her sisters were princesses of the light. Their father was king of the light lands," Zoisite explained. "The people of the light were not entirely good, but by their nature did not get along with the people of the dark. The light lands never knew dark and its people thrived on perpetual sunlight. The people of the dark knew only the light of the stars in their eternal perfect night."

"Then the people of the light lands wanted the whole world to be day all the time and the people of the dark wanted a world of only night!" Ami exclaimed.

"So the opposing kingdom thought. The people of the darkness didn't want the whole world to be dark; they merely wanted their world to be left as is. But they were convinced that the people of the light lands wanted to invade their world with daylight."

"Did they?" Ami asked. She was becoming increasingly engrossed in the story.

"No," Zoisite replied. "And they thought that the people of the dark wanted to bring darkness to their kingdom. So the marriage of their children was the most important of any of the treaty-marriages taking place over the years."

"And?"

"Well as the wedding preparations were underway, a noble lady of the dark lands travelled to the light lands in the party that was to bring Princess Aurelia to the dark lands for her wedding," Zoisite continued. "When she beheld the princess she was overcome with jealousy. She had heard tale of her beauty, for she was fabled to be the most beautiful woman in the world, but she never expected to be so overwhelmed by it."

"And then?"

"He jealousy drove her mad," he answered. "She seduced a lord of the kingdom of the light-"

"Seduced him? Really?" Ami interjected.

"Well alright I think the story says she bewitched him or something, but it never mentions her having any sort of magic powers so that's my adult interpretation," Zoisite confessed and Ami involuntarily giggled.

"And she convinced him to admit that the people of the light were planning to invade the dark lands with daytime?" she asked.

"You guessed it," Zoisite admitted.

"I think I may have heard this story before," Ami said, and she meant it. "But I don't recall how it ends. Do go on."

"Of course. Since the people of the dark lands were already so suspicious of those of the light, no one attempted to confirm the veracity of his words. So a war began. And all of the other kingdoms were forced to choose sides. Well, the people of the dark were very persuasive and one by one, all of the kingdoms chose to aid them in their quest to destroy the kingdom of light."

"And what of the princesses and their marriages?"

"Dissolved. None of the princes had yet ascended to the throne and their fathers decided that they could simply annul the marriages," Zoisite answered.

"But that's impossible!" Ami exclaimed. "That could never happen. A marriage of treaty is the same thing as signing a treaty, so they would be breaking the treaty!"

"It's just a story," Zoisite declared, clearly taken aback by her impassioned reaction. "It isn't real."

"I apologize," Ami said, with exaggerated calmness. She could not understand why she was allowing her speech to flow so unthinkingly. "Continue if you please."

"Well the married couples were all deeply in love with one another and could not bare to become mortal enemies, though they were sworn by duty to do so. So risking their lives they ventured deep into the dark lands to seek out the Witch of the Black Woods, who was rumored to have incredible magic powers. They hoped that she might have some spell to help them."

"And she did," Ami concluded. "She did. I remember she had some spell where she could send their souls on to another life where they might be able to be together." _Strange, why is this all coming back now?_

"Exactly," Zoisite agreed. "But the witch could make no promises that sending them on would not alter their appearances, nor could she be sure where or when they would all end up. She could only guarantee that it would be in the same world, in the same time. The couples wanted to be certain that they would be reunited, that they would know each other in this alternate life, be it in the future or another world entirely. So they all agreed to determine a sign, a symbol, something that would bind them together.

"The eldest couple chose identical rings. The first twin and her husband broke a medallion in two and each wore a half of it around their necks. The younger twin and her husband were wiser. They feared that material possessions would not carry on with them, so they each engraved matching scars onto each other's bodies. But the youngest sister, sweet Cecelia was the wisest by far-"

"She and her husband they, they wrote a song didn't they?" Ami asked cutting him off. "I'm certain they did. A simple melody known only to them that would lead them to each other no matter how time might change them." She could hear her nursemaid's voice reading of the page thirteen years in the past, could hear the woman humming gently as she endeavored to explain this plot point to her even then inquisitive four year old charge.

"Indeed," Zoisite agreed. "And when they passed on into the next life, a thousand years in the future they were all separated, as they feared. Both of the elder sisters had lost their material possessions that were to lead them to their beloveds. The younger twin was quite changed in her appearance and had no scar. But Cecelia still retained the memory of her song. So she sang it for everyone she met and asked if they had encountered a man singing the same. Sadly no one had, but none of them could get the simple, beautiful melody out of their heads. So they went about humming it.

"And then one day a young man overheard a farmer in his fields humming the tune as he plowed. He ran to the old farmer and insisted on knowing where he'd learned that melody. The farmer said it was from a girl who'd been in the town nearby not three days prior. So the young man went to the town and learned that the girl had gone north, in search of her true love. So that is where he went."

"And he kept on going from town to town, following the sound of farmers and craftsmen singing her song," Ami said distantly. "But did her every find her?"

"It doesn't say. The tale would have you believe that they are still out there searching for one another. That people still hum their song and point Nord in the direction of his beloved Cecelia," Zoisite replied. "There you are Sailor Mercury, you do know the story."

"I have a name you know," Ami said, annoyed. Whatever understanding had begun to form between them was rent by his mocking use of her title.

"Of course Ami," he agreed, bowing formally.

Her heart fluttered at the sound of her name in his voice. "And I am also a princess," she added.

"Of course _Princess_ Ami."

She slammed the book closed. "Anyway it's a foolish story. There is nothing scientifically possible nor even probable about it. We can't simply travel forward in time and if we could there is no way that our appearances would be altered-"

"It is said that the Silver Crystal…" Zoisite attempted to say.

"And what about those older girls with their rings and necklaces? " Ami continued, ignoring him. "Did travelling through time make them lose everything on their bodies? Did they show up in some distant, uncertain future entirely naked?" She blushed suddenly at the mention of the naked princesses, realizing that if they were, in fact, naked then so too would their husbands have to be.

"Like I said, a work of fiction," Zoisite declared. "And for children. It doesn't have to explain itself. It can employ whatever devices it wants to, so long as it makes its point."

Ami looked squarely at him, focusing on being angry at the story and putting thoughts of naked men aside. "And that is?"

The library door flew open. "Lord Zoisite!" a flushed and frazzled guard exclaimed as he stumbled down the corridor towards them. "Thank goodness I've found you. The scouting team was attacked by a tyrant. They make camp at a post near Sariel. His majesty wishes to depart and join them at once."

"Straight away," Zoisite said. "You may tell him I will join him with all haste. Take this prisoner and have her outfitted for travel. Be sure she is at least lightly armed. I do not want her completely defenseless should we encounter any trouble ourselves."

"At once, sir," then guard said with a bow. He took Ami by the arm and began to rather forcefully lead her from the room.

"Zoisite!" she called. "Zoiste have him remove my bracers, I will not try to escape. Please! I want to help my friends."

"That is his majesty's decision," Zoisite declared coldly. "Do not trouble me with matters over which I have no control."

Inside she was screaming. Screaming at him for carrying on as if he might be her friend, for making her recall inconsequential childhood. She wanted to be angry, but she didn't know how to be angry. Her practicality always trumped her emotions.

"Were there any losses?" she asked the guard who continued to lead her forcefully off to wherever she was to be armored.

"One of my comrades Miss, a guard of his majesty's house. And Lord Nephrite sustained some injuries," the guard replied. "So says the guard who rode back here to deliver the message."

"Any word on the girls, on _my_ comrades?" Ami almost demanded.

"Only that without them, there's a chance no one would have survived to bring us the message that they did," he said.

They had now reached the anteroom of the great hall where the king's party had assembled for travel. Minako was there, unattended, still in the same day dress she was wearing when they'd seen their comrades off earlier that day. Only her bracers were gone.

"We've no time to waste getting fitted for armor," Minako said. "The king has decided that it would be best to simply give us back our defenses and be on our way." Minako reached triumphantly into the pocket of her dress to reveal a key with which she made short work of the locks on Ami's bracers.

She was glad to be free of them and glad that the king decided to trust that their interest in helping their friends would trump any desire they might have to escape their captivity. But she thought she was not nearly as happy as she ought to be. She couldn't fight the disappointment she felt at Zoisite not suggesting that her bracers be removed, and that it was not him who convinced the king that they ought to be.

She shook her head and willed those thoughts flee from it and never return. "So when do we go?" she asked.

"Now." It was the king's voice.

Ami turned her head to see him standing, fully armed in the doorway, Zoisite by his side. In his armor, the youthful blonde prince did not look nearly so delicate or gentle as she'd imagined him to be. Now he was all metal and chains, and not a child lost in fairy tales. It made her resolve to think of him as only her cold-hearted captor just a little bit easier.

She curtsied formally, respectfully. "Then lead us on, your majesty."

* * *

NOTES: Yeah, I know, it's been FOREVER. I was not feeling particularly inspired over the last few months, as a result of work being particularly stressful. So I played PSP instead of writing, which in turn inspired me to write more videogame fanfiction and brings me back here. So don't give up on me yet!


End file.
